A cellular network is a radio network made up of a number of cells each served by at least one fixed-location transceiver known as a cell site or base station. These cells cover different geographic areas to provide radio coverage over a wider area than the area of one cell. This allows mobile stations to move through more than one cell while communicating with the network. Increased capacity in a cellular network is provided through the reuse of the same frequency range in different cells. Unfortunately, there is some interference from the signals of other cells which use the same frequency range. In conventional frequency division multiplexed (FDM) cellular systems, at least one cell gap is generally provided between cells which reuse the same frequency range to help reduce this interference. In other words, adjacent cells are configured to use different frequency ranges.
Unfortunately, some cellular networks do not have the luxury of being able to use different frequency ranges in adjacent cells. In these cellular networks, the frequency reuse factor is one. Since neighboring cells use the same frequency range, one issue with these cellular networks is interference near cell edges caused by the communications within neighboring cells. This interference is particularly a concern on the uplink in OFDMA cellular networks because of the limited power available to mobile stations and the use of non-directional antennas for uplink transmissions. Thus there are general needs for OFDMA cellular networks and methods that can reduce interference on the uplink.